A further analysis on the market research methods used at Kellogg's

1. Unit 10 D1
Lewis Appleton 1 Miss Johnston
KELLOGG’S
MARKET RESEARCH METHODS USED
Kellogg’s used market orientated research which means that their business is built
around the needs of the customers rather than being product orientated whichwould
mean it would be built around the products. Kellogg’s uses both primary and secondary
data, rather than going straight into carrying out research, Kellogg’s first of all uses
secondary data; this allows them to base their primary research from something so they
have an idea of what they are doing. The majority of Kellogg’s data was qualitative, the
only quantitative data they carry out is at the end, this is togive them a general idea
about what the customers feel about the product, it doesn’t waste the persons time and
it allows the company to make changes to make sure the customers are satisfied. They
use data records whichallow them to have an insight to sales in the cereal market which
allows them to know if their product will fitin. They also use focusgroups which
allowed people to test multiple versions of the product in terms of taste, packaging,
texture, shape and any other traits. This allowed a very small but very precise feedback
to decide which wouldbe the product they focuson mainly. What Kellogg’s do on all
their products at the end is have an “InHome Usage Test” which lets a small sample of
people test the product forseveral days and give feedbackon the experience.
WHY
All of the research that Kellogg’s did was important, the factthat they are market
orientated meant that they were trying to get their customers to the product, such as
focusgroups rather than trying to get the product to the customers, which,in this
method wouldhave heavy advertising and free samples as wellas other similar
distribution methods. The data records were essential forKellogg’s to know if the
demand for new cereal products was there, if the sales of cereals were low then
Kellogg’s may have felt it wouldbe unnecessary to create a new product whereas if they
were too high and if Kellogg’s didn’t have the largest sales then they may have feltthat
the demand is too great elsewhere, although this worksin the opposite way;they could
create the product to get their demand back up or to boost the market for cereal
products. The focus groups were important to find out whichproducts would be most
popular, this way they could eliminate any of the versions whichdid not have a good
enough feedbackwhich in turn eliminates the need forextra expenditure and
unnecessary wasting of time which couldbe focusedon the more popular products
whichhave the potential togain high sales. The survey was important being the only
quantitative feedback as it allowed Kellogg’s to gain a large amount of feedback,
although being general it meant that customers did not have to waste their time as the
feedbackwould take no more than a few minutes, this gave incentive for customers as
they felt they would not be wasting their time. This allowed Kellogg to have a large
amount of data to base changes from;this meant that anything customers did not like
about the product couldbe changed. Finally the In Home Usage Test was important
because it allowed Kellogg’s to see how consistency of the products popularity was, this
way the small sample tests the product over time so it eliminates any effects such as “the

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Lewis Appleton 2 Miss Johnston
customer being hungry therefore finding the product tasty” which may have happened if
the product was only consumed once.It gave Kellogg’s a detailed sample to base any
further changes off as the customer described in fullwhat they thought about the
product.
THE BENEFITS OF RESEARCH USED
The benefits of using data records are that the statistics are highly detailed and give
specific information to a business or market, because Kellogg’s are cereal based it meant
that they could get information on the cereal market which directly applies to them as
they are the leading provider in the market, this allowed them to see certain trends for
both their products and competitors.
The benefits of using focus groups are that they specifically focuson what they are being
asked, they aren’t like people answering questionnaires as they dedicate themselves to
the focus, these are very useful because the feedbackis highly detailed and it allows
Kellogg’s to gain vast amounts of qualitative data, as well as this they can make changes
in front of the group and gain live feedback on what couldbe improved, this is helpful as
it allows key changes to be made.
The In Home Usage Test is a very beneficial method of research, it allows a more
longitudinal sample for Kellogg’s to gather data from and therefore it willneglect any
changes in data due to events such as “haven’t eaten all the day so therefore the product
tastes good” and “I’veeaten all day so I don’t like the taste of this product” whichin turn
gives more correctand detailed feedback.The productis taken for a week whichis how
it rules out these individual differences. As well as this the test is carried out on many
people so not only is the data highly qualitative but there’s a large amount of feedback
that recommendations can be made from.
THE DRAWBACKS OF RESEARCH USED
The drawback of using data records is that it costs a large amount of money, to get
detailed information that is, any information that is at a low costor free may have very
basic information unless it is legally required such as public figures from a PLC.Data
monitor has large amounts of data that is extremely precise but it costs a large amount
of money so unless the business has large amounts of money and is willing to take the
risk it is not suitable for all businesses. Forthe report “Consumer and Innovation Trends
in Cereal Products” it costs £2,150 just fora single use license. If the businesses go ahead
and it doesn’t end up creating a good product they will have to acceptthe loss. For a
multiple user licenceis costs over £5,350.
The drawbacks of focus groups are that the people involvedmay have to dedicate a large
amount of time and therefore if they start to get bored they may give incorrectfeedback
on purpose. As well as this the feedback is differentfrom each person and as the sample
is small it’s difficultto try and please each person’s point of view,therefore the group
has to try and agree on a viewpointor the person receiving the feedback willhave to
take all viewpointsinto account,even if they are incorrect.
There are multiple drawbacks to the In Home Usage Test, first of all the test is actually
repetitive and could be seen as a strain from the user, they may become acquired to the
taste and not feel as if they want to eat it because the taste has become boring, second of

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Lewis Appleton 3 Miss Johnston
all it isn’t actually realistic, it isn’t often that people eat 2 cereals a day consistently, and
usually the person wouldn’t consider their thoughts about the product like they have to
in this test. Thirdly if the person does not want to eat the product then they may give
incorrectfeedback whichwould affectthe results and conclusions. Finally this can cost
Kellogg’s a small sum of money since they have to distribute free products to the people
doing the test and as they have to have a large sample forthe information to be highly
valid this can add up.
RECOMMENDATIONS ON HOW TO IMPROVE RESEARCH
One of the things that Kellogg’s could have done was to first of all send out
questionnaires asking whichkind of products the customers wanted, rather than
starting off with spending large sums of money they should have done the
questionnaires first because, although they have seen a potential gap in the market, they
cannot be sure that the product they are trying to design is what the customers want.
Another issue that Kellogg’s have is that the product they were looking to design was
not suitable for people with nut allergies, another thing Kellogg’s could have thought of
was designing a product that these people would also be able to enjoy. The first research
that they did was qualitative, this wasn’t what they should have done, what they should
have done first of all was gain a generalised large base of information because although
basic feedback there is a large amount of it and therefore it is reliable and cost effective
when compared to focus groups it is a more appropriate option. The In Home Usage Test
was a good idea however the regularity of eating cereal would get repetitive and boring
to the customer as well as being unrealistic, whatthey should have done is created
various flavours of the cereal just to make sure that the testing consumer does not get
bored of repetitive tastes, they could have changed the taste in two ways,either by
having various flavoursin the one pack or each pack having a different flavour.The fact
that consumers give feedback at the end of the testing means the repetition could create
more effect,they could also have forgot about the first few days. What Kellogg’s should
have done as well is asked them with a more qualitative method such as an interview,
the several days being a more longitudinal study means that the consumer may forget a
few things and therefore in an interview they couldbe prompted into remembering as
well as Kellogg’s receiving more qualitative data.
THE PRODUCTS SUCCESS AS A RESULT OF RESEARCH
The market research methods that Kellogg’s have used has appeared to be successful at
creating their new product, it was necessary forthem to use the data records to highly
the gap in the market whichthey have used effectively tocreate a product that is in the
interest of the consumers. The qualitative data methods used allow them to get the more
precise information such as colourson their packaging whereas the quantitative
samples wereessential in getting feedbackon the customers thought of taste. The use of
focusgroups specifically was important highlighting the focuson the product itself and
the packaging, while it did cost money it was worthit forthe qualitative data that was
received. As concludedthe results were that Kellogg’s receivedmany more new
customers into their market and as a result the sales data showed that the first year’s
performance of the product made Kellogg’s almost £7 Million. Therefore it is clear that
the product was successful when considering the research carried out.